Why Does The Mainstream Media Like To Make Fun Of Preppers So Much?

Why Does The Mainstream Media Like To Make Fun Of Preppers So Much?

endoftheamericandream.com / By Michael Snyder, on November 14th, 2013

Have you noticed that the mainstream media has a tremendous amount of disdain for preppers? Even though there are now approximately 3 million preppers in the United States, most of the time the media ignores us. But once in a while an editor in New York City or Los Angeles decides that it would be fun to do a story about the “crazies” that are preparing for doomsday. And of course it is very rare for any piece in the mainstream media about preppers to be even close to balanced reporting. Most of the time, news stories that report on preppers portray them as mentally unstable kooks and loons that everyone else in society should be laughing at. But perhaps there is a deeper explanation for the contempt that the mainstream media has for preppers. After all, those in the media are representatives of the establishment, and they are probably deeply offended on some level that we don’t have the same kind of blind faith in the system that they do. The fact that so many Americans believe that the system is on the verge of collapse doesn’t make any sense to them, and instead of really looking into the truth of what we are saying, they would much rather dismiss us by labeling all of us a bunch of uneducated nutjobs on the fringe of society.

A few days ago, I came across another example of this demonization of preppers by the mainstream media. The following are a few lines from a recent CNN article entitled “What I saw at the doomsday prepper convention“. For the first few paragraphs the piece actually seems fairly balanced, but by the end of the article the author can’t resist openly mocking preppers and what many of them believe. Just check out these zingers…

I have a theory about this. The MSM mocks preppers because they like to prepare for themselves. They do not rely on the government.

The MSM always carries water for a liberal government. To suggest that the government is not prepared to take care of its citizens, and that they cannot take care of them in a disaster is treason of the highest order to the MSM.

While the MSM cannot dispute the failure of "Big Brother" to take care of all the citizens, they descend into name calling and poking fun at them. Its a well worn tactic, that ranks right up there with the "race card".

It's all about control! What if everyone worked hard and was prepared? What would the government do with all those FEMA camps?

It's easy to mock the media image of preppers. Why not? The ones on TV all look like mentally challenged morons talking about prepping for the end of world all the while telling millions of their plans, and all of their security. And then playing out idiotic scenarios in camo playing with guns. Hell, I consider myself a prepper and I laugh at them.

About 20 years ago, a lovely young lady (about 10 years my junior) explained it to me.
One night a few of the asshats I worked with want to break my balls and started singing, "One Two Three Four; What The Hell Are We Fighting For" (Country Joe & The Fish). This girl comes up behind me, kisses me on the ear and says, 'Don't let them bother you. They're just jealous.' She goes on to say that most guys are nitwits that sit around wondering how they would act and react if shit went sideways. She said they were jealous because I already knew how I would handle it.
I think it's the same with media and the preppers. They've been busting shooters balls for years, followed by hunters, subsistance gardeners and survivalists. We all know how to take care of business a certain way.
Hunter
Remember, those of us that carry, make more important decisions just getting dressed than the rest of the people do all day long.

It is often said there only two kinds of people in this world: those who know, and those who don’t. I would expand on this by pointing out that there are actually three kinds of people: those who know, those who don’t know and those who don’t care to know. Members of the last group are the kind of people I would characterize as “sheeple.”

Sheeple are members of a culture or society who are not necessarily oblivious to the reality of their surroundings; they may have been exposed to valuable truths on numerous occasions. However, when confronted with facts contrary to their conditioned viewpoint, they become aggressive and antagonistic in their behavior, seeking to dismiss and attack the truth by attacking the messenger. So-called mainstream media outlets go out of their way to reinforce this aggressive mindset by establishing the illusion that the sheeple are the “majority” and that the majority perception (which has been constructed by the MSM) is the only correct perception.

Many liberty movement activists have noted recently that there has been a surge in media propaganda aimed at painting the survival, preparedness and liberty cultures as “fringe,” “reactionary,” “extremist,” “conspiracy-minded,” etc. National Geographic’s television show “Doomsday Preppers” appears to have been designed specifically to seek out the worst possible representatives of the movement and parade their failings like a carnival sideshow. Rarely do they give focus to the logical arguments regarding why their subjects become preppers, nor do they choose subjects who can explain as much in a coherent manner. This is a very similar tactic used by the establishment media at large-scale protests; they generally attempt to interview the least-eloquent and easiest-to-ridicule person present and make that person a momentary mascot for the entire group and the philosophy they hold dear.

The goal is to give sheeple comfort that they are “normal” and that anyone who steps outside the bounds of the mainstream is “abnormal” and a welcome target for the collective.

It would appear that the life of a sheeple is a life of relative bliss. The whole of the establishment machine seems engineered to make them happy and the rest of us miserable. But is a sheeple’s existence the ideal? Are they actually happy in their ignorance? Are they truly safe within the confines of the system? Here a just a few reasons why you should feel sorry for them.

Black Blade: I don't really care aout the sheeple. In life there are winners and there are losers. You can't have winners without lthere being losers. Nature just doesn't work that way. Just as in nature there are the predators (those at the top of the food chain) and the prey (The sheeple). The rest of us who are prepped are less likely to be prey as we are not dependent on the predator elites that control the means of production and distribution. We can get by without them for the most part and in many cases we can get by without them altogether making us trully independent.

When you're born you get a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America , you get a front row seat. - George Carlin

The vast majority of them have wholly unrealistic plans, and their long-term plans seem to converge to hoping that the same government, or a successor, is going to eventually bail them out and set things right.

There's a big difference between making prudent preparations and buying a lot of toys and raving about "blue helmets" on television shows...

The vast majority of them have wholly unrealistic plans, and their long-term plans seem to converge to hoping that the same government, or a successor, is going to eventually bail them out and set things right.

There's a big difference between making prudent preparations and buying a lot of toys and raving about "blue helmets" on television shows...

I couldn't agree with you more. I believe EVERYONE, city or rural, should have some extra basic supplies on hand, food, water, medicine, hygiene products, and a means for self defense. How deeply someone choses to go in those preparations is entirely up to them. Some may be comfortable with a couple of weeks of supplies on hand and some may not feel comfortable with several years worth of supplies. To me that boils down simply to money. I would bet some that can't afford it would love to be able to prepare more and then there are those that can easily afford it but would rather spend money on "toys" than food, water, and guns.

My having extra supplies on hand got my wife and I through a tough financial stretch where she wasn't working because of her breast cancer. The normal bills were still coming in, including the mortgage, we had additional medical bills, but only one income to pay them with. The food we had got us through that time with much less expense than if we had had to purchase it. Not a typical prepper type of situation, but one that prepping worked well for us at the time.

The biggest difference between me and the "Doomsday Prepper" crowd is other than close family, my kids and my wife's kids, no one else knows what we do. That is my major avenue of security. Be invisible right out in the open. We are known as "bargain shopers" not stocking up "preppers", we have a large garden, like so many of our neighbors, we can and freeze, like so many of our neighbors. We don't stick out, we don't patrol our property dressed in camo with assault rifles. I don't have an underground bunker. We are just an average looking rural family doing what other rural families have done for centuries.